All I have to do is get together with Melody to discover where women are going next. Queen Anne resident and founder of The Crave Co., Melody Biringer has an uncanny barometer for connecting what she craves with what other women crave. And right now, that is time-out.
“Everyone I talk to is stretched for time. They want to do it all, have it all. It seems harder to take time out,” she said.
One of the Biringer family, a name standing for Northwest berries, Melody grew up working in the strawberry farm business and found herself a workaholic early on. With the success of her strawberry shortcake, she started on her own business path. Craving girlfriend time, she hosted a CRAVEparty at the upscale The Ruins club in Seattle, literally a pajama party with spas and chichi cocktails.
This was 2002, when many women, after several decades of competing in formerly male areas, yearned for things that actually make them happy. Along with chick lit and flicks, CRAVEparty fit this need.
“It sold out from day one,” Biringer said. “I tapped into this because I needed it, then realized everyone else does, too.”
CRAVEparty morphed into The CRAVE Co., linking women entrepreneurs in 30 cities from Seattle to Amsterdam. Melody also publishes CRAVEguides, featuring local women’s shops, spas and restaurants for more than 25 cities, hosts CRAVE chats in various cities, oversees the CRAVE website and stages an annual symposium. She’s a speaker on women entrepreneurs and, in 2011, published her memoir “Craving Success.”
Finding time
Time — and time alone — has become rare.
Time’s shrinking even in Europe, she noticed in 2011, on her third stay in Amsterdam.
“There used to be siesta time; it doesn’t happen as much any more. People are getting stressed out there, too. The pattern I’ve seen over the years is only getting worse,” Biringer said.
She sees the upside as women entrepreneurs taking on their career passion with success. The downside? It can turn into overload, like, “I’m doing my dream, but it’s chaotic.”
Different things inspire different people, she observed. Her husband, Paul, couldn’t believe she’d booked every day in Amsterdam with meetings for CRAVE.
“But this isn’t work for me — that’s fun. That’s down time,” Biringer said. But she can overdose and, since then, has felt the need to shift her own life balance.
“I also need to fill my soul, to educate myself. I dream of a whole week in Paris with my journal. We’re not brought up to see that as a goal, but there’s something powerful about being with your own thoughts,” she said.
“The man cave,” she added, “he needs his time; he can’t just go into the chaos of family. But women need that, too.”
This past year, she’s scheduled some cave time: an afternoon a week to retreat and journal, “taking the time out to listen and look within.”
The process hasn’t been easy. She knows she needs a shift, but what is the way forward? Sharing honestly what she’s going through with other women, she’s found others experiencing the same thing, becoming more open, more vulnerable with each other. From this time of looking within, her next move is evolving.
Back to the beginning
She craves to find a way for other women to take that cave time, go deeper with themselves and others. She wants to bring different generations of women together to talk about life, money, spirituality, careers, and family. Picturing a marshmallow-roast atmosphere because that relaxes people to be who they are, she calls it, “Urban campfire meets ‘80s ‘Flashdance’ meets TEDtalks.”
She’s also looking at CRAVE — has it grown too big, too fast? — and toyed with the idea of finding an investor. But that means giving up freedom: “Few women go after funding. There’s only one in Seattle, and she’s stressed out about it,” Biringer said.
“Maybe keeping things small is all I can handle,” she said. “Keep it small, and keep it all. I began with strawberry shortcake. Now, I want to take CRAVE back to where it began: girlfriends, getting together.”
She’s on a trail that’s not cleared away, using her own resourcefulness to think it all out.
Meanwhile, she’s launching a new CRAVEguide for Vancouver, B.C., and, for the first time since the economic crisis, resurrected the CRAVEparty. And she’s already figuring out the nuts-and-bolts of a group time-out, creating a space for women to share in depth. It just feels right.
For more information, visit thecravecompany.com. To comment on this story, write to QAMagNews@nwlink.com.